There are a lot of reasons but I’ll distil it down into a few points:
1: The same tropes and archetypes repeated over and over again. Every storytelling/media tradition has its archetypes and tropes but anime is glued to them, to the point where every character in every anime I’ve seen feels like a knock-off of another one. It makes things predictable.
2: Grating voice acting and obnoxious writing. Too much screaming, too much shouting, too much corny dialogue and everything is spoken in the upper case, it reminds me of watching a Christmas panto or a kid smashing toys together.
3: Weird paedophilic undertones. Young characters underdressed or portrayed in a sexual manner, characters masturbating over others who are in a medically induced coma, clearly child-aged characters justified by a mystical deity or some nonsense, it’s absolutely disgusting.
4: I prefer classic Western animation. Batman The Animated series looks better to me than any anime ever made, it’s absolutely gorgeous to look at.
5: Anime fans and Japanophiles are the most annoying people ever. Underneath every piece of music there are anime fans trying to link it to some fight scene, spouting lines from anime or mentioning some juvenile in-joke, it makes me embarrassed to share music I like because I don’t want to be associated with these people; Japan is the textbook embodiment of late-stage capitalism and depersonalisation.
I agree some can be sexualized, that’s why I only watch the more wholesome ones such as the Studio Ghibli and Ghibli-adjacent films as well as some shows like Frieren: Beyond Journeys End, which actually goes against certain fantasy tropes by beginning after the main journey is over and the big bad has been defeated. (That’s not a spoiler, but the premise)
I would be remiss if I didn’t recommend Two Ghibli films: Spirited Away & From Up On Poppy Hill. And a Non-Ghibli film: In this “Corner of the World”, both of which I reviewed,, if I’m allowed a little shilling. To wrap up, I will say that Anime is not for anyone and sometimes the nose accents can be over the top, but other times they subtler and the English dub sometimes surpasses the original.
P.S. Western animators like Disney actually inspired early Japanese animators.
Sorry for the long wait for a reply, I realised you were still editing when the comment was first sent and got busy.
Ah but Ghibli also fits into that saccharine, fuzzy 'cosy' space in media that I also strongly dislike. I have tried a few anime in my time: Evangelion, Berzerk (the only one I unambiguously liked) Netflix's Castlevania (which got worse the longer it went on and I detested Nocturne) and a few others but I've just never gotten the appeal, I always feel like I'm watching something that I wouldn't want to explain to another person if they happened to walk in.
Indeed, I'm not an expert but as I understand it, Betty Boop was essentially the template for early anime.
Anti-capitalist? I wouldn't say so. I purposely keep my politics under wraps here (not for malicious or extremist reasons, I just think it's not that relevant to my writing) but I've been slurred as 'woke' and 'misogynist' in the past by both sides of the spectrum for views I've espoused. I'm unwilling to attach myself to a specific ideology but I think most things are good in moderation. I like the freedom of choice and general economic uplifting that capitalism brings but I dislike the disintegration of the nuclear family and of aeons old institutions as well as the questioning of civilisation's most fundamental pillars that seem to be inevitable when it has been embraced long and deeply enough. I specifically criticised Japan because everything there seems to have been commoditised, from human touch and cuddling with a partner to Japanese culture itself, I find it a little bit sickening.
Small Edit/Add-on: I think the left and right mostly identify the same problems but the extremes of both have their own flavour of schizophrenia in reaction to said problems.
This is excellent to hear Scanlines/Lawrence, I'm really pleased for you. Your longer posts are always great - even if they take me longer to get round to reading - and you've introduced me to types of games I never even knew about. I'll look forward to experiencing your sci-fi fiction.
Huge congrats on the 500 milestone! I think this is only the beginning for you; you’re a fantastic writer and I’m really looking forward to seeing whatever you do next. 🤩 all the best, and you’re smashing it ⭐️
Thank you so much! And I really hope so. I hope someday we can all look back and think of ourselves as the early adopters of games writing on Substack, maybe when I'm 50 and the category gets added.
It’s strange - games are more popular than ever, yet to me it feels difficult to find quality long form game criticism? Anyway congratulations on the milestone, I’ve really been enjoying all your work.
Thank you! And I hope you continue to enjoy it. I get that feeling too and it's part of why I write the way I have been and why I'm almost insistent on longer articles. There are lots of short reviews on Substack (and these are talented writers too so no disrespect to them at all) but for me? I don't feel a shorter format does video games justice and on a personal level, if I really enjoyed something I played I have a need to write in-depth about it here.
What an epic journey. To your credit, I would have picked none of this from dealing with you for our joint review those months ago. You were nothing but punctual, professional and very easy to deal with.
And you have the expression of a long-form writer too. You want to say more, tease things out, cover all the bases! That's reflected in a lot of your posts. I really have to strap in when I read a Scanlines article!
I think writing a book at your own pace will serve you well. I'm keen to see what you produce! Onwards and upwards mate -- here to support however I can!
Thanks a lot for the compliments Harrison, I really appreciate it and I enjoyed working on our review together a lot; I tend to have strong opinions on franchises I really love (Resident Evil, Metal Gear and Halo probably being the 3 biggest) but working with you -and writing this Substack- has exposed me to all sorts of opinions and it's always really gratifying to write something and hear "Yes, exactly what I thought too!"
I have to confess our collaboration was itself something of a milestone for me. When I first arrived on the platform last January you were -and still are- one of the standard bearers for our side of Substack, so I was thinking "Oh wow, I'm in that position now too."
Congrats on the milestone and thanks for the peek at the writer behind the scenes. I'm happy to hear your life has taken a turn for the better, and a big thank you for sharing your passion for games with us!
Congrats on 500! No gaming publication on Substack more deserving, God knows you put in the effort. Best of luck with the new project, too!
Thank you! I hope we all make it someday, seems the gaming content is growing every day here.
You hate ANIME? You HATE anime?? What the hell is wrong with you? Never calling you Lawrence of Arabia or whatever, you're Scamlines forever now.
Scamlines' Unscrupulous Journal
If you don’t mind me asking, why do you hate anime? Hate seems like a strong word.
There are a lot of reasons but I’ll distil it down into a few points:
1: The same tropes and archetypes repeated over and over again. Every storytelling/media tradition has its archetypes and tropes but anime is glued to them, to the point where every character in every anime I’ve seen feels like a knock-off of another one. It makes things predictable.
2: Grating voice acting and obnoxious writing. Too much screaming, too much shouting, too much corny dialogue and everything is spoken in the upper case, it reminds me of watching a Christmas panto or a kid smashing toys together.
3: Weird paedophilic undertones. Young characters underdressed or portrayed in a sexual manner, characters masturbating over others who are in a medically induced coma, clearly child-aged characters justified by a mystical deity or some nonsense, it’s absolutely disgusting.
4: I prefer classic Western animation. Batman The Animated series looks better to me than any anime ever made, it’s absolutely gorgeous to look at.
5: Anime fans and Japanophiles are the most annoying people ever. Underneath every piece of music there are anime fans trying to link it to some fight scene, spouting lines from anime or mentioning some juvenile in-joke, it makes me embarrassed to share music I like because I don’t want to be associated with these people; Japan is the textbook embodiment of late-stage capitalism and depersonalisation.
I agree some can be sexualized, that’s why I only watch the more wholesome ones such as the Studio Ghibli and Ghibli-adjacent films as well as some shows like Frieren: Beyond Journeys End, which actually goes against certain fantasy tropes by beginning after the main journey is over and the big bad has been defeated. (That’s not a spoiler, but the premise)
I would be remiss if I didn’t recommend Two Ghibli films: Spirited Away & From Up On Poppy Hill. And a Non-Ghibli film: In this “Corner of the World”, both of which I reviewed,, if I’m allowed a little shilling. To wrap up, I will say that Anime is not for anyone and sometimes the nose accents can be over the top, but other times they subtler and the English dub sometimes surpasses the original.
P.S. Western animators like Disney actually inspired early Japanese animators.
P.P.S. Are you Anti-Capitalist?
Sorry for the long wait for a reply, I realised you were still editing when the comment was first sent and got busy.
Ah but Ghibli also fits into that saccharine, fuzzy 'cosy' space in media that I also strongly dislike. I have tried a few anime in my time: Evangelion, Berzerk (the only one I unambiguously liked) Netflix's Castlevania (which got worse the longer it went on and I detested Nocturne) and a few others but I've just never gotten the appeal, I always feel like I'm watching something that I wouldn't want to explain to another person if they happened to walk in.
Indeed, I'm not an expert but as I understand it, Betty Boop was essentially the template for early anime.
Anti-capitalist? I wouldn't say so. I purposely keep my politics under wraps here (not for malicious or extremist reasons, I just think it's not that relevant to my writing) but I've been slurred as 'woke' and 'misogynist' in the past by both sides of the spectrum for views I've espoused. I'm unwilling to attach myself to a specific ideology but I think most things are good in moderation. I like the freedom of choice and general economic uplifting that capitalism brings but I dislike the disintegration of the nuclear family and of aeons old institutions as well as the questioning of civilisation's most fundamental pillars that seem to be inevitable when it has been embraced long and deeply enough. I specifically criticised Japan because everything there seems to have been commoditised, from human touch and cuddling with a partner to Japanese culture itself, I find it a little bit sickening.
Small Edit/Add-on: I think the left and right mostly identify the same problems but the extremes of both have their own flavour of schizophrenia in reaction to said problems.
That last part is fair, I guess we just have different tastes. I enjoy having comfort movies to relax to, but to each his own.
Peace ✌🏻
P.S. No problem. 👍
Same to you!
This is excellent to hear Scanlines/Lawrence, I'm really pleased for you. Your longer posts are always great - even if they take me longer to get round to reading - and you've introduced me to types of games I never even knew about. I'll look forward to experiencing your sci-fi fiction.
I really appreciate that, thank you. It's the best feeling when someone tells me they picked up/became interested in a game I've written about.
Huge congrats on the 500 milestone! I think this is only the beginning for you; you’re a fantastic writer and I’m really looking forward to seeing whatever you do next. 🤩 all the best, and you’re smashing it ⭐️
Thank you so much! And I really hope so. I hope someday we can all look back and think of ourselves as the early adopters of games writing on Substack, maybe when I'm 50 and the category gets added.
It’s strange - games are more popular than ever, yet to me it feels difficult to find quality long form game criticism? Anyway congratulations on the milestone, I’ve really been enjoying all your work.
Thank you! And I hope you continue to enjoy it. I get that feeling too and it's part of why I write the way I have been and why I'm almost insistent on longer articles. There are lots of short reviews on Substack (and these are talented writers too so no disrespect to them at all) but for me? I don't feel a shorter format does video games justice and on a personal level, if I really enjoyed something I played I have a need to write in-depth about it here.
What an epic journey. To your credit, I would have picked none of this from dealing with you for our joint review those months ago. You were nothing but punctual, professional and very easy to deal with.
And you have the expression of a long-form writer too. You want to say more, tease things out, cover all the bases! That's reflected in a lot of your posts. I really have to strap in when I read a Scanlines article!
I think writing a book at your own pace will serve you well. I'm keen to see what you produce! Onwards and upwards mate -- here to support however I can!
Thanks a lot for the compliments Harrison, I really appreciate it and I enjoyed working on our review together a lot; I tend to have strong opinions on franchises I really love (Resident Evil, Metal Gear and Halo probably being the 3 biggest) but working with you -and writing this Substack- has exposed me to all sorts of opinions and it's always really gratifying to write something and hear "Yes, exactly what I thought too!"
I have to confess our collaboration was itself something of a milestone for me. When I first arrived on the platform last January you were -and still are- one of the standard bearers for our side of Substack, so I was thinking "Oh wow, I'm in that position now too."
Onwards and upwards! Here's to us all.
Congrats on the milestone and thanks for the peek at the writer behind the scenes. I'm happy to hear your life has taken a turn for the better, and a big thank you for sharing your passion for games with us!
Thank you! It certainly has and I hope the momentum keeps picking up. More to come!
Congratulations, I hope the 500th hits soon!
Keep believing - I’m enjoying the articles!
Me too! They'll keep coming as long as people keep reading.
Congratulations on the milestone and positive life changes!
Thank you! I really appreciate it. It's starting to come together for the better.